


Protector of Man

by Blueyedemoness



Category: Darksiders (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Possible Future Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:46:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyedemoness/pseuds/Blueyedemoness
Summary: Through the one hundred years following the apocalypse, Mari Sparks finds herself awake and alone in a foreign land that used to be known as Earth. Unsure how she survived after a century, the last remaining human tries to figure out exactly what happened that day one hundred years ago while adapting to this new and dangerous world. On her journey she is forced to accompany War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, under the pretense that he could help her track down her younger sister. Instead, she is dragged along on War’s journey to prove his innocence while evading the clashes of Heaven and Hell in their never ending war for total victory.





	Protector of Man

The glare from the sun reflecting off the metal was dull and undignified. There were scratches and uneven groves planted across the surface, painting a clear sign that the weapon had been used many times through its creation. Mari almost felt bad taking it from the hands of its’ owner, but the demon had been dead for a while and she needed something to protect herself. It hadn’t even been more than a couple of days since she emerged from her dreamless sleep and she had seen more demons then she thought she ever would in her lifetime. Before they were a myth her parents talked about to keep her and her sister in line, but now she was forced admit that that wasn’t true anymore.

 _There is a demon at 10 o’clock._ A voice that could only be described as gentle as a light breeze by the most pompous of poets filled the caverns of her mind.

Mari peeked from behind the concrete wall of the partially caved-in building and saw another ugly-faced demon with curled horns stalking around the perimeter. His weapon was identical to hers and many other grunts that stalked the area as his beady eyes scanned the environment.

She stayed crouched with bated breath, not daring to exhale until he was clear of earshot before scrambling to higher ground. ‘ _Do these guys ever rest?_ ’ she thought to herself as she painstakingly dragged the weapon with her up the surprisingly durable set of stairs. A few wheezes went through her mouth and every few steps she had to pause to catch her breath. Despite the defined muscles attached to her arms, the sword-axe still weighed a ton, more than it should have in her opinion. Though indisputably it was made for demon hands and strength and not for tiny humans who were at the edge of adulthood.

_Demons do not require rest and only do so out of luxury._

“Yea, well if they like luxury so much they should go have an orgy or something; I haven’t had an opportunity to go find food since I woke up!” Her stomach growled lightly and Mari took a moment to pause and pat it reassuringly, as if that would do her any good.

Reaching the top of the mostly bare second floor, the young human let go of her weapon and temporarily sat on the frayed carpet next to a rotting wooden desk. She lazily opened some of the drawers in a vain attempt to scrounge anything of use, but ended up with nothing but a few spare papers too faded to be legible and pens that had all but dried out. Useless.

Taking time to rest after going most of the day using her _excellent_ stealth skills to carefully maneuver herself through collapsing buildings, Mari closed her uncovered eye for what seemed like just a few moments. She tried to recall what life used to be before everything went to hell, how life should have been catered to helping her grow up to be an adult. Instead, her mind flashed back to the terrifying moments that haunted her nightmares.

_Car alarms blaring, the screams of fellow humans running from the terror, the smell of smoke coming from innumerable amounts of fires caused by the destruction. It suffocated the both of them and running became more difficult as the two had attempted to flee somewhere other than the crowded streets. There was no guaranteed safety from the hideous creatures that were let loose in what seemed to be a premature apocalypse. They tore people apart, ate them and made their bodies nearly unrecognizable before jumping to the next victim with an endless hunger. There was no satiating them and if those dog-like monsters were bad, the humanoid, behemoth demons were even worse. They bellowed out a roar that could destroy eardrums and lifted busses full of people with such ease that Hercules would be put to shame. Instead of hunger, rage was their motivation and the presence of humans seemed to set them off the most. But they were more avoidable then the dog demons at least._

_Elsewhere, churches were filled by the dozen, overflowing with so many people the doors seemed to be ready to burst at any moment. Those who couldn’t get in stood outside, hugging the walls and cowering in fear or calling out that the end times were here and humanity was to pay for their sins. Her parents had been part of those people and despite their cries and pleas, Mari turned away and ran in the opposite direction with her sister in tow. She believed the best thing to do was to hide in an obscure place, a place with few humans, few demons and a small space where only they could hide easily and be protected by the towering buildings made of concrete. Olivia had voiced her objections as well, but Mari ignored them just as she had ignored their parents. Oliva was only seven years old and while particularly bright for one her age, she was still_ only _seven years old. Camping at any church or holy place in the city was a death trap and she would be damned to let them hide in such obvious hiding spots. They’d only be waiting to be slaughtered and she refused to die so easily._

_They ran for a long time, so long she began to get blisters on her feet. No matter where they turned, demons were there with the few angels that survived the initial collision. Mari had gotten frustrated and, for a split second, thought about going back to the church where their parents were, only to be blocked. Where the road once was, giant thorns erupted from the ground, causing the street to rumble and crack where the helpless humans stood. They had no choice but to go forward now and hope that safety was within reach._

All of a sudden Mari jolted up from her unintentional nap at the sound of something large crashing nearby. Her breath hitched and she had to take a moment to let her panic settle down and her hands to stop trembling. When she came back to her senses, the human slowly rose from behind the desk and peered through one of the broken windows.

Not far off, in one of the few intact parking garages left, a big gaping hole had opened up and smoke rose up from inside. She was reminded of the craters made from the arrival of demons and angels and wondered if these were reinforcements, or something else all together.

“What was that?” asked one of the demons down below in a garbled tongue that she could barely understand, even with Seth’s help.

“More soldiers, probably. Never can have too many under The Destroyer’s command.”

“For what? All the humans are dead now aren’t they? What else could they be here for?”

“Were you even listening? The Earth belongs to Hell now! With this foothold we’ll be able to increase our numbers until we’re ready to storm The White City and squash any angels that are left on this Creator forsaken rock.” They sounded like the typical disgruntled soldiers, but their words were worrying, especially the part talking about all humans being dead. Mari hoped that wasn’t the case, she hoped her sister was still alive somewhere.

Carefully, she slid away from the window and back to where her heavy weapon lay on the tiled floor. Despite fear rising in her stomach, Mari decided that the best course of action was to head where the crash was. She didn’t know why and blamed her lack of logical explanation on her instincts that had been growing more refined as time went on.

_The demons are moving away, if you’re going towards that crash, it would be best to go now._

Heeding Seth’s advice and gingerly touching the patch covering her right eye, Mari gripped her weapon in stinging hands and descended out into the destroyed streets.

Navigating without getting caught was one thing, but trying to be stealthy _and_ drag a huge sword-axe the whole way was exhausting and stress inducing. It took everything for her not to scream in frustration whenever it got caught on something or it would slip out of her hands and land on her foot. She wouldn’t have had any trouble if she had some sort of scabbard to hold the damn thing, but she had yet to see anything that could help her achieve that. Thankfully, though, she was almost to her destination.

Once she got closer, Mari started to pick up sounds that bounced off the normally silent, concrete buildings. She slowed down and hugged the wall, creeping towards what she perceived to be a library that towered over most of the other buildings. Her other hand gripped her weapon just in case she needed to use it to defend herself. She then cautiously peered over the corner.

Across the square were groups of green skinned zombies shambling about with the occasional large demon. Most were inactive, but there was a group that was running and charging at something struggling in the middle of them. At first she thought it was another demon, but then noticed this person was fully clothed in armor and when the light hit just right she could see the same color of skin a human wore under the red hood covering the face.

Mari was obviously curious, though not just because he was something other than a demon or angel, but also because his sword was _massive_. It was nearly the size of his own body and it cut demon and zombie alike as if they were made of paper! She wanted nothing else but to get her hands on it and trace every detail, but reserved herself due to the fact the guy was slaughtering the enemies with no problem and could probably do the same to her if provoked. Instead, she stayed where was.

The stranger was killing everything like it was nothing and a slew of colors would burst out every once in a while to go inside the larger of his two gauntlets. Mari was certainly entertained, so much so that she had completely forgotten that she was utterly starving. She would have been content to watch him work that blade all day, but, alas, all good things must come to an end. Everything in the vicinity had been slaughtered and the stranger put his sword on his back and made his way towards the center of the square.

Mari pulled her head away, not willing to risk exposing herself any longer and gain the stranger’s attention. Unless he had already seen her, he _was_ heading in her direction.

About to shuffle away to possibly find another building closer to the giant, a loud yelp emerged from her throat when a zombie popped out of nowhere and had nearly swiped at her with its’ gnarly claws. She was knocked off balance and hit her back against the brick wall with barely enough time to dodge another attack. Mari kicked it in the legs, causing it to buckle and took that opportunity to get some distance between them. Unfortunately the moment she started to sprint, another appeared and managed to slash at her cheek. She tried to use her weapon, but realized she had dropped it after getting spooked.

“ _Fuck_ ,” a curse passed through her lips at the realization that she was cornered by two intellectually deprived zombies and only had a small window to turn the situation around. The two lunged at her at almost the same time and Mari dived as far as she could before rolling and getting on her feet. She only got a few seconds, however, before her back was assaulted by two swipes that tore at the back of her hoodie and suddenly found herself on the ground once again.

Primal instincts took hold; Mari flailed her legs against the creatures that were trying to kill her and was met with some success. Her long legs connected with the stomach of one and sent them tumbling away while the other was only slightly hindered; stumbling somewhat before moving forward again. It slashed wildly, but she managed to back away fast enough to dodge it, only to hit the wall of a building seconds later. The teen cursed at herself at her incompetence and braced for a painful impact as the creature charged forward with a hellish screech of a wild animal.

Feeling something being sprayed onto her face was the last thing Mari expected within the next few moments, along with the sound of flesh being pierced and the screeches of the zombie fading away. Daring to take a peek, Mari found herself staring at the end of of a large blade with a niche at the tip snuggled in between the chest cavity of the zombie. She was so stunned into silence that she couldn’t utter the most terrified of squeals or keep her hat from sliding off her head. It felt like her heart just stopped beating and that her death was to come soon after.

“What’s this? A _Human_?!” said an irritating and grating voice as the blade slipped out of the body with ease. The dead zombie fell to the floor and towering before her was the stranger she had seen earlier, along with an inky black creature floating near him. The creature floated a bit too closely as the black, mouthless face permeated her vision and squinted its’ six glowing eyes. “How unfortunate, it seems to have died from shock.” Its tone mocked her stunned silence and the gall to do so roused her.

“I’m _not_ dead!” Mari proclaimed, baring her teeth before forcing herself up with shaking legs and using the wall to support herself.

“No, you are alive.” The stranger said slowly and clearly, his voice resembling a growl with each word he spoke. Now that he was in front of her, Mari could tell he was at least a few heads taller than the average human male and seemed to be built like a tank with his sturdy armor and beefy appearance. Most of his face was darkened from the inside of his hood, but she could see the long white hair spilling out from inside and white eyes staring down at her. She would have thought he was an angel if he didn’t lack the wings.

A scowl then appeared at his words; was this another attempt to mock her? “No shit sherlock, I wouldn’t be breathing if I wasn’t!” She told him before wiping her face with the sleeve of her yellow hoodie before looking up at him defiantly.

His face made no visible change from his stoic expression, though she could have sworn that it did twitch for a split second. “I was lead to believe the Third Kingdom was lost.” He said, looking over to his companion as if he owed him an explanation.

“Of course it is! I’m not sure _how_ this little mouth-breather survived, but just because its’ here doesn’t mean Man is saved!” The floating being, or Inky as Mari had immediately started to call him, seemed adamant on his claims, almost suspiciously so.

“If one survived, there could be others.”

Inky scoffed. “You’re wasting your breath on a fantasy! The Charred Council graced you with an opportunity to ‘prove your innocence’ War! Not looking around for humans that don’t exist! I suggest you head back to Vulgrim and ‘feed’ your curiosity before I have to remind you whose in _charge_.” To prove his point, Inky extended his arm and a blue ring surrounded the one he called War, pinning him to one knee as he grunted in pain. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to get Mari’s blood boiling.

“What the hell did you do to him?!”

“Just reminding him who holds the leash, _wretch_ . And if I were you, I’d mind your own business lest that _tongue_ of yours get ripped out!” He gave her a threatening glare from all six eyes before collapsing into a mist and retreating to War’s larger gauntlet.

“Are you okay?? What was that bastard’s problem?!” She asked after he had disappeared, unable to understand what had just happened or why, but knew in her gut that it was wrong.

War ignored her questions, though despite his lack of response, she could see him clench one of his fists, only to relax it a few seconds later. He turned his huge body away and began to leave without so much as a single word. And, perhaps, if she were older, Mari would have been content to leave him alone to march on his mission. But she was a stubborn, fiery and determined seventeen year old who needed to look for her little sister and hanging around a guy who could cleave through anything in his path sounded like the best course of action she could take. So she followed him.

They didn’t go far, only to the center of the square where a platform decorated in runes sat and a tall demon floating above it. The skeletal face was unnerving with the lack of a nose, the exposed teeth in an almost permanent grin and beady, cyan eyes watching their every move. Mari kept behind War to keep from the demon’s sight, but she had a feeling he had seen her long before she had seen him.

Without a word spoken between them, War lifted his gauntlet and a blue stream shot out of decapitated skulls that rushed into the demon’s mouth as if guided by an unknown force. The demon gave a satisfied hum.

“ _Mmm, excellent~~_ ” There was a small pause before she saw him moving to the side slightly until they were both in view of each other. “ _And what about_ her _?_ ” He asked, daring to get closer to the human and Mari backed away at War’s side, almost pinning herself against him as she tightened her grip on her weapon. “ _Surely you are aware how much a price a human could offer--_ ”

“I’m NOT for SALE!” Mari’s defiant voice cut him off through the pale imitation of a snarl and she looked ready to lift her weapon to clock him over the head. Even though it was too heavy to lift off the ground for more than a few seconds and she would more likely hurt _herself_ trying, but her only means of defense was making it seem like she _could_.

“ _My, my, a tenacious one aren’t we?_ ” the demon sounded all too eager and not the slightest bit put off by her bark.

“Who knows how to get to the Destroyer?” War asked almost impatiently, moving his body to face the demon once again and conveniently putting himself in front of her once more. Whether he did it on purpose or not, Mari wasn’t sure, but was thankful nonetheless.

Forced to comply, Vulgrim left her alone-- for now. “ _These ancient gates have a mind of their own, but with this, you may reach an… understanding. Beyond the gate, seek out Samael’s prison._ ” Out of his clawed hands appeared an item that was curved like a horn and had two heads to make up the mouth. War took it without issue and didn’t look back to the demon as he walked towards the large gate blocking the library. “ _Once, he was close in power to the Dark Prince himself; some would even say a threat. You will find he’s no friend of the Destroyer, and may even help, for a price. Seek me out when you’ve gathered more souls, I’ll make it worth your while~_ ”.

Giving an eerie laugh and grin, Vulgrim slipped back into his portal and War continued on as if he never existed. For a few seconds Mari stared, petrified that he may come back to quickly drag her away at the last second. But found that, at least for now, the demon’s interest in her was gone. Not willing to risk him popping up the moment War left, however, she went after him, heavy weapon in tow, towards the gate blocking the way.


End file.
